The Berrys of Grand Cru Wines sent this report on their fascinating-sounding recent tasting:
Held on 29 sep, our blind tasting of four of
We kicked off the evening with the Merlot based flight; 1999 Chateau Pétrus, Pomerol, (at a market price of around £400 a bottle), tasted blind alongside 1999 Merle aux Alouettes, Vin de Pays d’Oc from Alain Chabanon in Montpeyroux, (£20.95 retail), and 1999 Domaine de Ravanès Les Graviers du Taurou, Vin de Pays des Coteaux de Murviel. (£16.95 retail).
Our second flight was of wines based on Cabernet Sauvignon: 2000 Chateau Léoville Barton, St Jullien, at a market price of around £70.00, alongside 2000 Domaine les Creisses “Les Brunes”, Vin de Pays d’Oc (retail £18.50), and 2000 Domaine de la Grange des Peres, Vin de Pays de l’Hérault, (retail £35.00).
We moved to the Rhone varietals for the third and fourth flight, the third Syrah-based flight comparing the 2001 Hermitage from Domaine Jean Louis Chave, at a market price of around £80.00 with 2001 Clos de la Belle, Vin de Pays du Gard (£22.95 retail), and 2002 Clot de l’Oum “Numéro Uno” Cotes du Roussillon Villages Caramany (£16.95 retail.)
The final flight was based on Grenache, with a comparison of 2000 Chateau Rayas, Chateauneuf du Pâpe (Market price around £80.00), teamed with 2000 Les Boissières, Domaine Font Caude, Coteaux du Languedoc from Alain Chabanon (£17.95 retail) and 2001 Terre Inconnue “Les Abuelos” Vin de Table from Robert Creus (£23.50 retail).
Flight 1, Merlot based
As
a trio, all three wines performed well, with all three wines neck and
neck in terms of overall marks. Many tasters were surprised that the
Pétrus didn’t stand out more.
1st 1999 Merle aux Alouettes, Alain Chabanon 16.08 points
2nd 1999 Domaine de Ravanès Les Graviers du Taurou 16.05 points
3rd 1999 Château Pétrus, Pomerol 15.92 points
Flight 2, Cabernet based
No great surprises here, with both the Léoville Barton and the Grange des Peres very highly rated but quite different in style.
1st 2000 Château Léoville Barton, St Julien 16.91 points
2nd2000 Domaine de la Grange des Pères 16.88 points
3rd 2000 Domaine les Creisses Les Brunes 14.48 points
Flight 3
Tasters
liked the elegance of the Clos de la Belle and the mineral style of the
Clot de l’Oum, and the Chave showed very well also. This was maybe the
most exciting group of all, with three very fine wines.
1s 2002 Clot de l’Oum Numero Uno 17.09 points
2nd 2001 Hermitage, Chave 16.17 points
3rd 2001 Clos de la Belle 16.11 points
Flight 4
Many
tasters were surprised by the light colour of the Rayas [noted before
on this site – JR], and opinions were divided, although many obviously
liked the wine very much. Some found the Los Abuelos almost too
concentrated and “late harvest” in style.
1st 2000 Les Boissières, Domaine Font Caude 16.69 points
2nd 2000 Château Rayas, Chateauneuf du Pape 16.05 points
3rd 2001 Terre Inconnue Los Abuelos 15.09 points
The
overall wine votes were very even across the board, with only about 2.5
votes separating the top wine from the bottom wine, giving the
following result:-
Wine
name is followed by the proportion of tasters who identified the wine
correctly (in brackets), the highest/lowest score and finally the
average score out of 20
1. 2002 Clot de l’Oum Numéro Uno (46%) 19.5/12 17.09
2. 2000 Château Léoville Barton (77%) 19 / 11 16.91
3. 2000 Domaine de la Grange des Pères (58%) 19 / 13 16.88
4. 2000 Les Boissières, Alain Chabanon (36%) 19 / 11 16.69
5. 2001 Hermitage, JL Chave (50%) 20 / 13 16.17
6. 2001 Clos de la Belle (38%) 18.5/ 8 16.11
7. 1999 Merle aux Alouettes, Chabanon (41%) 19 / 12 16.08
8=.1999 Domaine de Ravanès Graviers du Taurou (45%) 19 / 10 16.05
8=.2000 Château Rayas, Châteauneuf du Pape (46%) 20 / 12 16.05
10.1999 Château Pétrus, Pomerol (45%) 20 / 10 15.92
11.2001 Terre Inconnue Los Abuelos (32%) 18 / 11 15.08
12.2000 Domaine les Creisses “Les Brunes” (65%) 20 / 10 14.48
All the bottles were opened four hours before the tasting, and decanted.
More details about our producers can be found on our website, on www.grandcruwinesltd.net .
If
you would like to purchase any of these Languedoc Roussillon wines, we
have small stocks of most of them available. (The 1999 Merle aux
Alouettes and the 2000 Grange des Pères are extremely limited in
quantity.)
Grand Cru Wines Ltd.
1100-5 Avenue des Alpilles
13310 Saint Martin de Crau, France
Email : gcw@wanadoo.fr
Fax : (0033) 490 47 1321
Telephone : (0033) 490 47 2906
